Silver Bullets After shutting down the Vikings, the Oakland Raiders must be considered armed and dangerous contenders in the suddenly wide-open AFC West

Charles Woodson was pushing every button he could think of, buthe just couldn't get to Randy Moss. Woodson, the OaklandRaiders' perpetually calm cornerback, finally became frustratedand briefly lost his cool last week as he sat in the living roomof his Alameda, Calif., town house, fiddling with a SonyPlaystation controller. Four days before facing the MinnesotaVikings' receiving sensation in the flesh, Woodson hoped tosimulate their showdown through the magic of Madden '98. Butalas, Woodson's exhaustive search for his rival's video-gamelikeness gathered no Moss. "Man," Woodson said, chucking thecontroller to the floor. "I don't have time to figure this stuffout."

Woodson, like the rest of the football-watching universe, waseager to see how this battle of second-yearstandouts--Generation Y2K's answer to Jerry Rice versus DeionSanders--would play out. But as he chilled on his couch andbroke down the matchup, Woodson fixed his thoughts on a largerprize. "Everybody's going off about me and Randy," he said, "butI'm just anxious to go up there and win this game."

The Raiders, who lost their opener to the Green Bay Packers on aBrett Favre touchdown pass in the waning seconds, were 11-pointunderdogs to the Vikings, and Woodson felt a loss in Minneapoliswould be a disaster. "Even with last week's disappointment," hesaid, "we proved to ourselves we can play with anyone. Now wehave to deliver, because not everyone can handle being 0-2. Someguys will just pack it in."

No team has folded more regularly than the Raiders of recentyears, but thanks to a relentless defense and a shut-up-and-playmentality, the Silver and Black is back on track. In musclingout a 22-17 victory over the Vikings, Oakland not only suckedthe air out of Minnesota's vaunted passing attack but alsoemerged as an unlikely powerhouse in a league gone mad. With thetwo-time defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos 0-2, thereinvented Raiders look capable of contending for the AFC Westtitle. On Sunday they played tough, crisp, smart football, thensteadfastly refused to get caught up in their own hype. "We'renot beating our chests and saying, 'Look at us!'" said halfbackTyrone Wheatley, who bashed his way to 67 of his 83 yards in thesecond half. "We'll come hard every week and let the other teamsaround the league look at the film and decide what our identityis."

While much has been made of Oakland's murderous schedule, whichincludes October games against the Broncos, Bills, Jets andDolphins, no one considered the opposition's perspective: AsMinnesota quarterback Randall Cunningham can attest, facing theRaiders holds all the allure of spending an afternooncrash-testing a Miata. Though Cunningham threw for 364 yards, hewas sacked six times and pummeled repeatedly, and he completedjust 4 of 11 passes after the Vikings closed to within fivepoints early in the fourth quarter. "We whipped their ass," saidRaiders nickelback Darrien Gordon, a Broncos starter the pasttwo years. "Teams have to realize that when they play theRaiders, it's going to be a smash-mouth game." Moss, who caughtfour passes for 86 yards--but only one, for 15 yards, afterhalftime--is already convinced. "They beat us, simple as that,"he said. "No fluke. They hit us in the mouth."

Moss's mouth played a role in Oakland's preparation for thisgame. In the middle of the week he complained to reporters thata true mano a mano contest against Woodson would nevermaterialize because, as usual, he expected double coverage."That's the only way you can really slow me down, by bumping meand rolling the safety over the top," Moss said. "That's takingthe 'punk' way out. If you're trying to see if your guy is worthwhat he says he is, let him play one-on-one."

Dream on, Randy. The Raiders punked Moss all afternoon, bumpinghim hard at the line of scrimmage. Oakland kept its corners inplace, with Woodson on the left and savvy veteran Eric Allen onthe right, and gave the illusion of bringing help over the top.Moss moved around frequently but never found a comfort zone."Because of his comments, we knew he had been worrying abouttwo-deep coverage," Allen said, "so in the first half we pressedhim and showed him that look--to make him think that's what wewere doing--but rolled the safety away from him. Later, westarted rolling toward him, and I think he got frustrated. Hey,Michael Jordan was here to watch him play: The guy really wantedto get off."

Raiders defensive coordinator Willie Shaw, who should be someteam's coach this time next year, swears he wasn't preoccupiedwith stopping Moss, who lit up the league for 17 touchdowns lastseason but has yet to reach the end zone in '99. "My onlyconcern was getting after the quarterback," Shaw said. "All thattalking Moss did in the paper about punk coverage, that's highschool stuff. If you're really going to be a good player in thisleague, just go play. I think he psyched himself out."

Shaw sent extra defenders after Cunningham on more than half ofthe Vikings' snaps, mixing zone blitzes with more traditionalpursuits such as Mike Dog 1, an alignment in which 6'2",245-pound linebacker Greg Biekert bursts through the middle ofthe line. On Minnesota's second play of the third quarter--afterthe Raiders took a 13-10 lead on Rich Gannon's nine-yard pass towideout James Jett--Cunningham's slant pass to Moss was battedinto the air by the blitzing Biekert and intercepted bydefensive tackle Russell Maryland, setting up Michael Husted's42-yard field goal.

Even without extra pass rushers, Oakland's underrated defensiveline consistently collapsed the pocket on Cunningham and forcedthe Vikings, who had minus-one yard rushing after halftime, intoa one-dimensional attack. Cunningham had success mixing thingsup in the first half, spreading the ball to wide receivers Moss,Cris Carter and Jake Reed and tight ends Andrew Glover andCarlester Crumpler. But when the Raiders' offense came alive inthe third quarter and staked Oakland to a 22-10 lead, Cunninghamstarted locking in on his wideouts. "It's not that Randall getsrattled, but when he gets a lot of pressure, he starts toeliminate guys," says Allen, a former Philadelphia Eaglesteammate of Cunningham's in the '80s. "Favre beat us theprevious week because in crunch time he kept the window open andused the whole field--Joe Montana was the same way, no matterhow hard he got hit--but with Randall, things get narrow, and heforgets about some of his options."

Cunningham wasn't the only vexed Viking. Last year Minnesota setan NFL record by averaging 34.8 points a game; this year, withthe same personnel, the team has scored just 34 points in twogames. The natural scapegoat is new offensive coordinator RaySherman, and several Minnesota players privately grumbled abouthis play-calling after the Oakland game. However, Sherman, whoon Sunday vacated his preferred perch high in the stadium infavor of the sideline in an effort to make Cunningham feel morecomfortable, can't be blamed for dropped passes or kicker GaryAnderson's sudden lack of accuracy. The fact is, the Vikingshave been out of sync since the latter stages of last year's NFCChampionship Game loss to Atlanta, when the Falcons' defensestifled the game plan of Brian Billick, Minnesota's offensivecoordinator at the time and now coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Even Minnesota's old standby, the Cunningham lob to Moss, seemsa little stale, though it did provide one thrilling highlight onSunday. Moss and Woodson were matched up for 25 plays, butMoss's lone photo op came five minutes into the second quarterwhen he ran a fade down the right sideline and made a glorious,29-yard, one-handed catch at the Oakland five-yard line. Woodsonappeared to have perfect position, but Moss beat him to thepunch, shoving the backpedaling corner to the turf with his lefthand while gracefully pulling the ball in with his right. Thenthe stunned Woodson got flagged for pass interference. "That wasbulls---," he groused, "but, hey, the guy made a damn goodcatch. I'm never going to live that down. My boys will becalling me all week."

Woodson was outshone on that play, but he made up for it. Thoughhe has not been able to persuade Raiders coach Jon Gruden to lethim return kicks or play wideout, Woodson is an impact playerwho affects the game in ways that don't translate into thePlaystation landscape. With 2:46 remaining in the first half,Anderson lined up for a 42-yard field goal that could have putMinnesota up 13-3. Woodson gave a quick shove to 257-poundblocker Kailee Wong, darted around the right side of theMinnesota line and got horizontal to block the kick. Oaklandlinebacker K.D. Williams, a skycap at the Tampa airport thistime last year, scooped up the ball and charged across midfieldlike O.J. in the old Hertz commercial, setting up Husted's37-yard field goal with 36 seconds left in the half. A six-pointswing in what turned out to be a five-point game--perhapsWoodson's boys will cut him some slack for that.

At game's end Moss sought out Woodson on the field, renewing afriendship that flourished at last February's Pro Bowl when thetwo shared a limo ride to Scruples, a Honolulu nightspot knownfor its creaky dance floor and frequent bikini contests. On hisway to the locker room Woodson got a congratulatory handshakefrom Marcus Allen, who was on the sidelines for his currentemployer, CBS, and not his former boss and longtime tormentor,Raiders owner Al Davis. "That's a pretty good team," Allen said.

On this day, at least, all was well in Raiderland.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY AL TIELEMANS Gannon fodder The Vikings' defense was easy pickings for the Oakland quarterback, who completed 21 of 33 passes for 248 yards.COLOR PHOTO: JOHN BIEVER Catch of the day Moss used his left hand to shove Woodson to the turf while pulling down a pass from Cunningham with his right.

COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS A little Elba room Raiders back Napoleon Kaufman, who rushed nine times for 31 yards, lunged for a few extra inches in the third quarter.